Journaling My Very Best Friend
I use at least four or five journals per novel.
Within the white pages I write and scribble, daydream and draw, make lists and plans and tell myself to quit whining and start writing.
I’ll write down random, jumpy thoughts and things that make me laugh.
I’ll sketch out characters and plots and subplots and the most ridiculous things.
The more problems I’m having with a book, the more journals there are.
When I’m stuck in my writing and don’t know where to go, I journal.
When I’m grinding through a twisty scene that makes my cranium crazy or I don’t know how to make it funnier, sharper, more poignant or tearful, I journal.
When I don’t know who an elusive character is or if I should kill him off because he baffles me, I journal.
I’ll let my brain go and hope that something creative falls out of it that I can use in my book.
One thing I love doing is cutting out magazine/newspaper pictures that inspire me or relate to the plot I’m working on or are just flat out interesting.
These are a few photos from my first, of many, journals for my novel, My Very Best Friend. All the photos and pictures were inspiring in some way. Some ended up, in some form, in the book, others never did.
Happy reading, happy writing, happy day to you. And if you don’t journal, try it. You might like it.
After having read this book and now seeing these glimpses into the journal~~I see so much more. Thanks for this! I love it!
1Maryellen,
Of course, friend.
Cathy
2Hi Cathy, loved reading about your journaling and all the journals you keep. I have long been one to also write in journals, its random, its part sentimental memories, its lots of hummingbird and garden things, its places I have been, and years of things I love to do and think about, dream about…Thanks for your sharing yours! Carol
3Carol,
4Thank you! I do love the journaling that I do when I’m first starting a book. Just that fresh rush, the ideas, the characters, the cutting out of pictures. I am so glad you write in journals, too, you can relate. You can always go back to journals, too, and re live times. Although, my cursive is so bad that would be a difficult challenge for anyone….
I love learning about your creative process! I know the end product is steplar;however how you bring what is in you to paper is intriguing.
5Joleen,
6Thank you. The creative process, for me, is a crazy, upside down, sometimes frustrating spin into nowhere…or somewhere. It just takes time, takes energy, and when I need to turn off my mind I watch reality TV shows. Especially the home shows. But I’ll admit to Bachelor, too. Sometimes that mind just needs to go OFF.
Cathy,
I love how your mind works. What endeared me to you the most in this blog post is that you like to clip out pix from mags that are inspire from a place of beauty or spark curiosity. I do the same thing…a beauty geek is what I think I could be called. Keep at it girl!
7Karen,
8It probably came from my mother who loved to clip out pictures in magazines of home designs and gardens! I love it, too. There’s something so relaxing about cutting out pictures and putting them in a journal and just being at peace.